Friday, July 10, 2009

Make It or Break It: Where's Marty? and Blowing Off Steam Episodes

Sorry I got behind on this show. I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not. The second episode, "Where's Marty?," I did enjoy because it did what I predicted: toned down the gymnastics and turned up the drama. Payson and Kaylie are still reeling from Marty's sudden departure as their coach, and decide to sneak away to confront him while the parents meet to discuss what to do about the coach-less gym. Emily ends up coming along so she can sort out her scholarship papers with Marty, and Payson's little sister, Becca is forced to come, too, so their cover isn't blown with the parents.

Payson's confrontation with Marty was done really well. She was introduced as the calm and focused character, so it is a little jarring to see her lose her cool. You also see how much Marty cares about her because he lies to her to make her angry enough to work hard for the championship. He also agrees to finalize Emily's scholarship so she doesn't have to leave. I figured they wouldn't reveal to the audience why Marty left until much later in the series, but to my surprise they gave it away at the end of the episode. He apparently had/is having an affair with Kaylie's mom, and he is trying to protect Kaylie from getting hurt by agreeing to leave with Lauren's dad. Emily's mom sees Marty with Kaylie's mom, but so far she hasn't told anyone else about it.

Lauren is still bitchy. I was surprised there wasn't a bigger confrontation between her and Kaylie, but I suppose Kaylie can't give away that she is really dating Carter. Kaylie's brother Leo gets more of an introduction in this episode as he begins to show an interest in Emily. They bond a little bit when Leo gives her a ride home, so it's pretty obvious there is gonna be a love triangle between Leo, Emily, and Razor (the pizza guy). Stay tuned.

This week's episode, "Blowing Off Steam," annoyed me. After Marty decides to leave the gym in Denver, Lauren's dad tracks down another retired Olympic gymnast, Sasha Beloff. Beloff agrees to serve as a coach only if he can train the four main girls together. Emily, Kaylie, and Payson aren't willing to welcome Lauren back with open arms, but Beloff is too good to pass up, so they grin and bear it. Beloff only promises the girls that he will work just as hard as they do, and since the girls only have the weekend before their training kicks in, they decide to attend a blow out party in the woods.

Payson only goes to keep an eye on Emily and Kaylie, and Lauren has other plans with her dad, so she fore goes the party. Emily wears a new dress her mom buys her to the party and quickly catches the attention of Razor and his friend. She talks with them for awhile, but gives Razor the wrong impression. He thinks that she is embarrassed to be seen with him, but really she is embarrassed about how they know each other (she doesn't want the other girls to know she has a job). I thought Emily was the main focus of the show, but this episode seemed to be a lot more focused on Kaylie and Lauren.

Kaylie keeps blowing off Carter since she is so worried they will get caught. When he finds her at the party, he confronts her and they break up. She regrets this later because she was drunk, but her apology is too late. By this point, Lauren has already caught up with Carter and taken him for herself. She went to the party because her dad ruined her dinner by bringing his new girlfriend (the still beautiful Candace Cameron Blue). She and Carter, both upset, bond over their annoyance with Kaylie and end up sleeping together. I hated this plot line choice. It's the third episode and they are already dealing with sex, cheating, and drinking. Jeez. To be fair, all three of those things were in the Greek pilot, and I ended up loving the show, so maybe this will turn around. It looks like the next episode will be the girls getting over their differences and coming clean about everything. I hope they lock them in the gym and let them battle it out with gymnastics. That would be hilarious.

About Me

I am pretty much an expert at following TV shows. The longest running show I have followed live is Smallville, which is about to enter it's 9th season. I appreciate shows that came on before my time, too, and have caught up on some series through DVD watching. This blog chronicles my TV episode reviews. I will also review movies, although this will occur mostly during the summer when my usual shows are on hiatus.
As for me, I am a 21 year old college graduate with a Bachelor's in Economics. I am currently enrolled to get my MBA in 2011. Wish me luck!